Zaki Ibrahim
August 21st, 2008 - Written by judith
CONFRONT: Hi
ZAKI: Hi
CONFRONT: First I’m going to explain to you what we are …
ZAKI: Cool
CONFRONT: We’re an online magazine called CONFRONT Magazine, our motto is Dare, Defy, Provoke, so Dare to Listen, Defy Stereotypes and Provoke Change. We’re trying to be as open-minded as possible, try to let our readers know that there is always something new to discover.
ZAKI: Awesome, I love that.
CONFRONT: Ok let’s start with some of our CONFRONT questions, questions we ask all of our interviewees.
ZAKI: Oh yeah like word association and stuff like that…
CONFRONT: Yeah kind of like that and then we’ll go into like deeper subject…
ZAKI: Nice, I feel like I’ in therapy right now… (laughing)
CONFRONT: I know! What would be the first and the last CD you remember buying?
ZAKI: The first music album that I’ve ever owned , it’s wasn’t a CD is that ok?
CONFRONT: Of course, it can be a cassette, a vinyl, anything.
ZAKI: Cool, ok yeah the first music album I ever owned was a cassette and it was Shadee. The last CD that I got was…
CONFRONT: Yet again doesn’t have to be a CD, can be something that you got on iTunes, something that was given to you…
ZAKI: An artist out of the UK, called Bashy…
CONFRONT: Yeah I’ve heard of Bashy
ZAKI: He is just sick…
CONFRONT: Nice, ok the first and last concert you remember attending, but as a fan…
ZAKI: Oh ok, the last concert I went to go see was a while back, it was Annie Lennox… no sorry it was Cat Power…
CONFRONT: And the first one?
ZAKI: The first one I’ve ever been to was Ray Charles.
CONFRONT: Awesome…
ZAKI: And I got to meet him.
CONFRONT: Really? That must have been great! He was such an amazing artist.
ZAKI: I was a kid thought but yeah he was amazing.
CONFRONT: Great, in the magazine we have a section we call Daily Urges. On a daily basis each member of our staff and readers come up with daily urges, we go through our musical tastes and influences and we try to make people discover new artists or even make then rediscover old classics. Do you have any Daily Urges of your own?
ZAKI: Definitely, there is an artist name Muhsinah, she is brilliant, absolutely brilliant. She produces her own stuff, she sings, she is amazingly creative and she opens up a whole new compartment in your brain, specifically there is a song called Construct, I think you can fin her on MySpace…(www.myspace.com/muhsinah)
CONFRONT: Is she a signed artist?
ZAKI: Unsigned, she has an amazing team around her, I got to meet her at the Black Berry festival in Philadelphia and she is amazing…
CONFRONT: Great!
ZAKI: Can I add another one?
CONFRONT: For sure
ZAKI: He is an MC from South Africa, his name is Tumi, he is amazing! I know I might be a bit biased, cause I know him, but just check him he is great! (www.myspace.com/tatv)
CONFRONT: For sure, I’ll make sure to put these artists’ MySpace links next to their names so that people can go ahead and enjoy your Daily Urges.
ZAKI: Awesome, thank you.
CONFRONT: No problem! Do you have any guilty pleasures? Something you’re like, I’m very open about my musical tastes but this…maybe I won’t say it too loud…
ZAKI: Would Neyo work?
CONFRONT: Of course, it’s actually anything and everything…
ZAKI: Oh God, I have so many then… I like…
CONFRONT: Like last year I got a lot of Justin Timberlake as an answer to that question coming from people who are not at all artists in the same genre…
ZAKI: You know what actually, I’m not afraid of how I feel about music, when I feel something is “dope” it’s “dope” that’s it that’s all. I actually really like the new NERD album.
CONFRONT: Yeah good…
ZAKI: Oh I’m trying to think, guilty, guilty pleasure…
CONFRONT: I know for me it’s like all the 80’s stuff, like George Michael and Cindy Lauper and all.
ZAKI: Well yeah, George Michael and Wham is great , I’m trying to also think of anything Rap and Hip Hop like old Snoop Dog, NWA…good old stuff
CONFRONT: Ok now the real deep stuff.
ZAKI: Please be gentle?
CONFRONT: Of course! You were born in British Columbia, raised between South Africa and the West Coast of Canada. Your father is African, your mother is Scotish/English. You’ve mentioned that learning and knowledge has always been important to you, music has always been present even if some types of music were banned from South Africa at some point, you were always able to listen to it… How would you say this influenced you as an artist?
ZAKI: Wow I don’t’ know where to start… I think that saying that music always present it’s almost like … you know it more present than in any other households, I wasn’t born with the music industry around me, you know… I got into the whole DJ scene after. I think that fact that my dad is a great communicator, he has been involved in broadcasting and stuff like that, community radio, you know trying to find a way to help the world, my mom was a teacher and both of them are travellers and love other cultures and food and everything, I think that was an influence. I did not always believe I was going to be an artist…I knew music was going to have an influence on my life, I also know that my parents wanted me to express myself and I that’s what I’m doing…
CONFRONT: I agree, about expressing yourself… we don’t have a lot of time left so I’ll ask you this right away, do you have any process when it comes to expressing yourself, to write and create music??
ZAKI: I’m expressing myself now as I’m talking to you and my brain is going all over, I like to express myself in different ways, I like to bass lines something, I like to express myself in tones. I pieces together the feeling of what the music sounds like and the lyric that most expresses that actual feeling.
CONFRONT: More than I have an issue and I have to write about that specifically.
ZAKI: exactly. It’s a very strange way of coming together but it’s everywhere and all the time.
CONFRONT: Ok last but not least before I get kicked out of here… What would you want your legacy to be?
ZAKI: I always want to… Oh my goodness…
CONFRONT: It’s all good take your time.
ZAKI: I feel that every human being, artist, celebrity or otherwise has a sense of vulnerability and I want to be approachable, I want to be close to people, I’d love to inspire people to do the same thing or learn from that…
CONFRONT: That’s a very good legacy to want to leave. Thank you for this interview.
ZAKI: Thank you this was great.
MySpace: www.myspace.com/zakiibrahim
Official Website: www.zakiibrahim.com
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